


Over Hill and Under Dale

by treefrogie84



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/F, Future Fic, Minor Kaia Nieves/Claire Novak, truth as a fairy tale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-07 00:24:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treefrogie84/pseuds/treefrogie84
Summary: Tell me a story, auntie?What story should I tell you?Yours.That is a very sad story.





	Over Hill and Under Dale

**Author's Note:**

> future fic, just assume that Alex met a decent guy and has a fulfilling and happy relationship and her kid knows her family as her family.
> 
> April 27 is 'Tell a Story Day'.

_Tell me a story, auntie?_

What story should I tell you?

_Yours._

That is a very sad story_._

_How does it end?_

In death, the way these stories always do.

_How did it begin?_

In death, the way these stories always do.

_What happened in between?_

A life.

_Tell me?_

My father said yes when I was eleven, walked away from his family and life, answered the call of an angel who didn’t know what they were asking. My mother thought him lost forever and grieved, and I grieved too. 

He returned to us, once, nearly a year later, worn and frayed like an old pair of jeans. His soul peeked through the cracks and around the edges-- even at twelve I could see it-- and then he left again, following the angel away from us.

He died, I found out later, a few days later, protecting someone who didn’t need to be protecting.

_What about you?_

I went to school, where my friends abandoned me and my teachers ignored me.

_Teachers aren’t supposed to be mean._

No, they’re not. But they’re people too and sometimes people are poopy heads. They didn’t know what to do with me. **I** didn’t know what to do with me. I wanted my family back.

_Mama says family don’t end in blood._

And she’s right. It doesn’t. But it took me a long time to discover that. Are you sure you want to hear this, little one?

_Yes!_

Okay.

I searched for years, for my mother, for my father, for the angel that had taken them from me. Through dangers untold and and hardships unnumbered, I fought my way to Gramma’s house. Alone and unloved, I thought. 

_Then you met Mama?_

Then I met your Mama. And Gramma and the rest of our family. And my love. They surrounded me with love and support while I tore apart the world, searching for my love.

She died protecting me, died so I wouldn’t, died to save the world. Died to save the lover of the angel who killed my father. 

_What did you do?_

I searched. I hunted. I lived. I became someone who deserved her. My hair, long and yellow, grew grey, then white, my face gaunt and skeletal. Returning my love to the living was the only thing I lived for.

I died.

_But you came back?_

I did. Because the angel loved me as the last remnant of his vessel. Because Gamma loved me as a child of her heart. Because Mama and Aunt Patience followed me where humans shouldn’t go.

And when they brought me back, I dragged my love with me. Over hill and under, beyond the goblin city and the last wood of the elves. We returned from our journey into the west, as no one ever should. Not without changing, mind. I lost more than she did, but neither of us were whole for a long time afterwards. 

We hunted the monsters in the night, but no one would trust us. We lived paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet and be normal. We found the angel, and his lover, and demanded recompense they did not owe. The lines became blurred, between what is needful and necessary and what was not. 

I became one of the monsters we hunted. My love tried to protect me, but even she, powerful though she was, couldn’t save me from the other hunters.

_You died._

I died. Again. 

They brought me back, my lover, the angel, his husband. Dragged me back from over the edge, kicking and screaming. Taught me what it means to be human again. The end.

_That’s a bad story, Auntie. Tell me a **good **story._

I warned you. 

_Good stories start ‘Once upon a time…’_

Once upon a time, many years ago, the hunter killed a werewolf. She killed **three **werewolves and returned their captive to her parents. While she was watching the reunion, the hunter’s own mother called, demanding that she come home-- her uncles were missing and believed lost forever.

So the hunter went home, intent on finding her uncles and rescuing them, proving herself to be an adult finally. Along the way, she met the most beautiful girl in all the world, hidden behind her scars and hair, for her princess was sore abused. The hunter fell in love immediately, even if it took the princess a little longer.

The monsters that had taken her uncles attacked! Sending the hunter, her princess, and the rest of her family into hiding while they figured out how find their uncles. 

The princess could guide the hunter to her uncles, could help her rescue them, but the way was long and dangerous, for the path wove between worlds and realities. They walked it together, holding hands, with the hunter’s promise to protect the princess ringing in their ears, while their family guarded the path home.

Together, they found the hunter’s uncles and rescued them. But not before the princess was mortally wounded, taking a blow meant for the hunter. 

The hunter grieved for a long time, a very long time. But she also had learned that death meant nothing to someone of her skills. It took her nearly a year, but she did it. She found her way back to her love, battling through monsters of every type and her family’s disbelief.

She did it. She brought her princess back from the land beyond death, whole and sane and still herself.

_That’s a much better story, Auntie._

Even though it’s not the end?

_Even though it’s not the end._

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote 2 fics for this month, you can find the second one, [Morning Breaks Upon the Tomb here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20300395)


End file.
